Royal gin just the tonic for bidders

By John Tagliabue in ParisDecember 14 2002

Ten years ago, when Sotheby's in New York offered at auction the personal cookbook of Wallis Warfield Simpson, the American divorcee for whom Edward VIII gave up the British throne, one recipe, for something intriguingly called Sauce Liberal, ended with the instruction, "Lastly, add a good quantity of gin."

On Thursday, Christie's auctioned off the gin.

Hunched among a dozen or so bidders at Christie's Paris offices, Francois Audouze, an insulation industry executive who collects fine wines and liquors, bid the equivalent of $4600 for a 12-bottle case of Gordon's gin, as Christie's offered the entire spirits cabinet of the Duke of Windsor.

Would he drink it? "Of course," said Mr Audouze, a lively, rumpled 59-year-old peering over half-spectacles.

Like the duke, who died in Paris 30 years ago, Mr Audouze has fine tastes. As a hobby, he organises banquets in Parisian restaurants for fewer than a dozen guests who pay several thousand dollars to defray the cost of the food, plus wine and spirits from his collection.");document.write("

advertisement

");
}
}
// -->

The cabinet - 72 lots, including 19th- and 20th-century cognacs, but also Scotch whiskies, Irish whiskeys, bourbon and the case of gin - were bought from the duchess after Edward's death in 1972 by a French family and recently sold it to Christie's.

"It was absolutely untouched," said David Elswood, director of wine sales for Christie's. "It was always known they would sell it. Their provenance and history adds an extra to them," he said of the bottles. But he added, "We factor in no extra premium because of their royal history."

Indeed, those who attended the auction did so less for romance and royalty than for fine drink. Asked whether he had come for the duke, Mr Audouze replied: "No. I would say the cognac. He had some cognac that nobody has."